Morris tribune., 1887-09-21
THE LAWS OF HEREDITY.
STUDIES DRAWN FROM A coLLEc-
TON OF FAMILY RECORDS.

xittis Difference Between tho Sexes In
the Frequency OF Good and Badaxom-
psr-rsmper ~ Hereditary AZ Any
Other Quality.
Mr.. Francis Gallon, whose studies OF
the laws Of heredity drawn from his la
\ horious collection of family records must
Do well remembered, has just printed in
|, The Fortnightly Review tho results OF his
investigation of tho facts concerning what
Ia farniliarly called temper and partic-
ularly the proportions OF good and bad
stcmpered persona In English domestic life
and the hsrcdity OF .temper,n We cam
not follow all the variations Of Mfr. Gal
toms research, or reproduce his ingenious
calculations, but only noss D few results.
Perhaps ttmavbe thought surprising that
the proportion Of good sempered and bad
tempered persons In almost exactly equal.
The nxss set Of data which Mr.. Gallon
tried gave the proportion Of the good to
the bad lteznpered % 70 to, %, the second
set 90 81 10 50. There h little difference
betweon tho tw0 sexes In the frequency OF
good ana bad temper, but that little d in
favor Of tho women, since about 20 men
are recorded ~ good tempered for every IS
who are bad, and conversely 50 women as
good tempered for 45 who are bad.
OF 1868 children, sal were good tenn
percd and $40 were bad, with 705 wanting
special characteristics of temper. The
good and the bad tempered were, thus
equal again, the neutral or medium class
being as numerous as the other two COM
bined, results which Mr.. Gallon says bear
emphatic testimony to the correct judg-a
nents Of his compilors. As TO the au-
thority Of these compilers or reporters,
and the capacity Of any observers to deal
with tho subject, he admits that 'accu.
rats dfsrernmens and designation 81 char
acter Is almost beyond The reach Of any
one, but, ON she other shand, q rough
knowledge and description Of its prorni-
nent features II easily practicable; % and
he rightly thinks that there can be little
doubt Of the value OF Testimony of q
member or . family who has seen and obs
served q person In his unguarded moments
and under very varied circumstances for
many PEARS" ,532zli.k,s taii-. p
=. .i -HEREDITT OF TEAPER. n r.rf
r Mr., Gallon is clear upon the important
question OF the heredity of temper; he
say: e b ''as hercditsry as any other
J u have forsy-shres cases where both
parents are recorded rs good tempered
and twenty-five where they were both bad
tempered. Out Of the children Of the
former 30 per ;eenk Were good tempered
and 10 per cent. bad; out Of the latter A
pcrseent. were good and 30 per cent bad
tempered. This b emphatic testimony to
the heredity Of temper y
Andahe attempted, with still more suc-
1, 20 anBgeF the converse question. Do
stempersd families OF brothers and |
llssssrs have, On the whole, good tempered
ancestors, and bad tempered families bad
tempered onest A good tempered family |
no defines for the purpose as one In which |
&C least two members were good tempered |
and none were bad, and bad tempered |
family as one in which at least two MEM |
bers were bad tempered, whether or not |
any eases OF good temper were said to be |
associated with them, and, as regards an |
cestors, he takes the two parents and the |
uneles and aunts on both side as the most |
trustworthy group. On this Mr.. Cation |
says:
1have forty-six good tempered families,
with an aggregate of 83S parents, uncles |
and aunts; and seventy lone bad tempered |
families, with 833 parents, uncles and |
aunts. In the former group 90 per cent. |
were good tempered and IS bad; In the |
latter group Is were good tempered and |
20 were bad, the remainder being neutral. |
More briefly we say that when the family |
is good tempered as above defined the |
number Of good tempered parents, uncles
and hunts exceeds that of the bad tenn
pered In the proportion Of three to two,
and that when the family 10 bad tempered /
the proportions are exactly reversed. -
New York Posi-. -